finding solace in peanut butter crackers

It's been a hell of a couple of weeks. I am searching for my center - the place where natural disasters, the washing machine, the toilet, my elbow, TEA, a particular Dean of a Graduate School, Time Warner Cable and job ennui don't matter. If feels very far away and tears are just below the surface. Tears that never fell after the shell shock of New York, now won't ebb in the light of Haiti. Every news photo brings back memories of a different time, too horrible to acknowledge in that moment. Knowing that the suffering of a people is something that must be endured, because honestly, what other choice is there? The option of giving up doesn't exist. To give up is to abandon those smaller or weaker than yourself. All of it will eventually take a toll on the ones who don't have time to grieve. And we, the others, can only stand by helplessly, wringing our hands. And I can only continue the struggle, no matter the cost.